On one of those very rare occasions that we were not watching something previously recorded, my wife and I caught a commercial for SmirnoffSource. For some reason, we both listened to the commercial and didn’t get it. We actually went back and watched it again. I don’t know what it was about the commercial that actually got us to listen but it worked. Well, it kinda worked. I was convinced it was a commercial for a new “spring” water, a la Pepsi/Aqua Fina or Coke/Desani, with a Smirnoff label. Considering America’s fascination with bottled water, I didn’t think it was absurd. However, the ad was for a new beverage that is promoted as spring water with alcohol. Hmmmm. You would assume that the “alcohol” mentioned is vodka considering the brand name, but you’d be wrong. The alcohol in question is malt-based alcohol, just like all Smirnoff’s other “alcopops.”
Why would you buy this beverage? Is the spring water enough of a draw to get people to buy watered down malt-based alcohol? The Smirnoff site claims the beverage is lightly carbonated, has a slight citrus flavor and is meant to be a beer alternative or “an ultra-premium alternative to domestic beer.” Really? Have we been brainwashed enough to believe that we should buy this beverage because it has spring water? After all, that is what makes it “ultra-premium,” because it certainly isn’t the malt-based alcohol. Oh, the other thing is that it has a low alcohol content with only 3.5%. The press release explains the lower alcohol as a “response to consumer demand” and claims it to be “the first lower-alcohol flavored malt beverage on the market that fits modern lifestyles and offers adult consumers sophisticated new drinking experiences.”
So why are these Smirnoff beverages not mixed with vodka?
Why would you buy this beverage? Is the spring water enough of a draw to get people to buy watered down malt-based alcohol? The Smirnoff site claims the beverage is lightly carbonated, has a slight citrus flavor and is meant to be a beer alternative or “an ultra-premium alternative to domestic beer.” Really? Have we been brainwashed enough to believe that we should buy this beverage because it has spring water? After all, that is what makes it “ultra-premium,” because it certainly isn’t the malt-based alcohol. Oh, the other thing is that it has a low alcohol content with only 3.5%. The press release explains the lower alcohol as a “response to consumer demand” and claims it to be “the first lower-alcohol flavored malt beverage on the market that fits modern lifestyles and offers adult consumers sophisticated new drinking experiences.”
So why are these Smirnoff beverages not mixed with vodka?
